Crossroads
by Jeva
Summary: They say when one gets older, one is able to see more of the flaws in one's old self. Edogawa Conan has spent the past 9 years realizing this only to run into one person who changes everyone's perception on life...


**Crossroads**

  


"Ne, Conan! Did you hear about our new teacher?"

"Aa."

"I hear he used to be a trouble-maker at Edoka High School. Think he'll be fun to have?"

"Maybe, but people do change, Mitsuhiko."

"Aw, come on, Ai. Lighten up!"

"Yeah, listen to your boyfriend!"

"WE'RE NOT GOING OUT!"

"...Genta, you have a death wish, don't you?"

Edogawa Conan shook his head in amusement at the group. A fond smile was on his face, though none of the other would have noticed it as he was in the lead. Even if they had seen it, though, they would write it off as one of his many quirks. "They wouldn't deny it if it wasn't true," he called back to them, waiting for the reaction that would come.

"C-Conan! How can you say such a thing--!"

"Edogawa, you are going to be buried in a very shallow grave..."

A smirk replaced the serene expression at Haibara Ai's threat. He wouldn't doubt that someday he'd be buried in a shallow, unmarked grave. That is...if any of the remnant connected Edogawa Conan to his distant cousin Kudo Shinichi. That was very doubtful, seeing as the ones in the organization that knew were dead.

"Calm down, Ai-chan," the other girl of the group Yoshida Ayumi said lightly, trying to keep her two friends from tackling the bespectacled boy. "There's no need for a murder case so early in the morning--"

"Yeah," the heavy-set Kojima Genta added with a laugh. "Besides, without Conan, we probably won't be taken seriously by the police."

Conan sighed wearily. "Why can't I be behind the scenes for once?" he asked his feet morosely.

He heard Ai snort. "As if you would let anyone take your spot as 'meitantei.' "

He gave her a sour look, sweatdropping slightly. "How are you so sure?"

The fairer-haired girl smirked. "Because I know you, Edogawa," she said smartly before pulling at Mitsuhiko. "Let's go check out that new sensei of ours."

The lanky boy flushed, looking a bit off-balanced. "Why me--?"

"Didn't you want me to show you that new video game? I can talk sensei into letting me use his computer--"

Conan stopped walking abruptly and turned around, causing the whole group to freeze. He looked seriously between the four of them before snickering quietly. Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko all blinked at him while Ai's face went red. When the snickering became full-blown laughter, she shouted, "Edogawa!" before chasing after him as he turned and ran.

Ayumi looked between Genta and Mitsuhiko before following Ai and Conan. "Wait a minute--! Conan! Ai!"

That was how it began for Edogawa and the shounen tantei. A chase through the halls to their first class. Even with Ai chasing after Conan first, however, Ayumi somehow managed to be the one who caused the accident. When Conan would look back on the incident, he would agree that he should have been more careful with angering Ai and should have expected the two girls to team up.

"Stop, Conan!" was the only warning he had until he felt something heavy and full of books hit the back of his head. That definitely put a stop to his attempt to flee, as he pitched forward, hit the ground, and skidded head-first into a wall. The only thing he could get out was a strangled "WAGH!" before the impact.

_CRASH!_

Ayumi cried out in alarm and rushed over. "I'm so sorry--Ah! Conan, are you okay!"

He twitched slightly, feeling very much like a bug that had hit the windshield. "...ow..."

Ayumi squatted next to him and helped him sit up, looking very much like how she had looked when she was seven. Teary-eyed and quivering lower lip. "I'm really sorry! I didn't think I kicked it that hard..."

Conan looked up at her, wincing and rubbing his head. "You _punted_ it?"

She colored and was save from more embarrassment by Ai calmly walking over to them, a satisfied smirk on her face. "Nice hit, Ayumi-chan."

The smaller girl blushed again while Conan had enough dignity left in him to feel righteously annoyed. "Oi, don't get Ayumi to finish your battles for you," he snapped.

Ai gave him a half-moon expression as she crossed her arms. "It's not like I _asked_ her to do it. And it's not like _I_ taught her how to kick things like that," she responded coolly.

Conan sweatdropped. She did have a point, after all. Before he could say anything else, Mitsuhiko and Genta came up--one very amused, the other slightly annoyed.

"Ai," Mitsuhiko said with a frown as he surveyed the damage, "chasing after Conan is not my idea of playing a new video game."

Ai had the grace to turn pink at the reminder. "You're right. I'm sorry. We can go now, if you--"

"No need," Conan interrupted as he stood and brushed himself off. "Our new sensei is here."

"Eh?" Ayumi asked before also spotting the teacher and the principal. "Ah! Good morning, sensei!" she said quickly with a polite bow. The others quickly followed.

The principal waves the greeting away, smiling. "No need for that. We're just taking a quick tour, right, Kuroba-sensei?"

The other man laughed uncomfortably. "Ah...right," he answered before nodding his head in salutation to the teenagers. "Nice to meet you."

Conan and Ai were the only ones not smiling politely. There was no need for them to pretend they were pleased to meet him. This was because they both felt as if they should know Kuroba-sensei...

And because Conan was stunned by the similarities between the man and Kudo Shinichi.

Mitsuhiko was the first to realize that the look on his friend's face was not one he wore often, especially when just meeting someone. "What's wrong, Conan? Are you okay?"

With everyone's attention on him, Conan was quick to act, putting a hand to his head and moaning. "That hurt a lot more than I thought it did." He then grabbed Ai's sleeve and tugged. "Can you take me to the nurse?"

"Why--" the girl began to argue automatically until she saw his expression which was hidden from the others by his hand. She sighed with an irritated air. "_Fine._ Come on."

Mitsuhiko started. "Wait, Ai--"

Ai looked to him apologetically. "Sorry, but I was the one that got him hurt," she said, watching the boy look put-out. "After school. Promise."

And with that, she led Conan away from the group, playing her role as much as Conan was.

-

-

The principal shook his head, leaning over to Kuroba-sensei. "Edogawa Conan...if you need information on anything, you can trust him to know it," he explained quietly. "Smart enough to be in a university but insists on staying where he is."

Kuroba-sensei smiled. "Seems pretty close to his friends, doesn't he?"

"Hm..." hummed the elder man, putting his hands behind his back. "He lives with meitantei Mouri Kogoro. Parents gallivanting around the globe, I hear. Mouri's daughter Ran used to go to this school as well."

The younger man turned to him in surprise and blinked. "You know an awful lot about Edogawa-kun..."

"He's a well-mannered young man," was the response with a bit of chuckle. "He tends to catch attention amongst his peers and even amongst his teachers. An engaging individual really..."

"Yep!" The two men turned to see Ayumi smiling brightly. "That's Conan, sensei. We've known each other since we were seven."

"Seven?" the sensei asked in surprise. "How old are you now?"

Mitsuhiko stood next to the girl and proudly announced. "We're all around sixteen and seventeen now, sensei. In our second year in high school."

"Really? Around nine years?" Kuroba-sensei laughed a little. "Wow...I could only keep one friend for that long when I was a kid. You guys must be pretty close."

Mitsuhiko snorted just before being shoved out of the way by Genta. "So you're really our new teacher?"

Kuroba-sensei sweatdropped. "Well, about that..."

-

-

Ai turned to Conan, who looked to be deep in thought. "What is it, Edogawa? Don't tell me your head really did hurt that badly," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm surprised anything can dent your thick skull--"

"He knows one of us," Conan stated darkly.

Ai's brow furrowed. "What?"

Conan looked her in the eye, and for the first time in a long while, someone else beside Edogawa Conan was staring out from those blue eyes. "That man...our new teacher...he knows about one of us, and I think it might be me."

The girl shook her head, seriously shooting down the possibility. "You're getting paranoid again. Remember middle school? The cafeteria incident--"

"This is different!" he objected, cheeks red from the reminder of one of his many panic-moments. "That man, he--"

"Looks just like Kudo Shinichi?" Ai leveled a stare at the boy, who went quiet and scuffed his shoe against the floor. "Edogawa, if you keep jumping at shadows, you'll never be able to live--"

Conan muttered to himself sourly, "Who says living's all that great--"

"Don't you _dare_ say that! How idiotic!" Ai shouted loudly, clenching her fists at her sides. "If I ever hear you say that again--"

"Says the girl who is here today because she wanted to poison herself," retorted Conan scathingly.

_Smack!_

The boy was surprised top find himself glassesless and holding a stinging cheek with one hand. Despite being without the glasses, he could still see the girl before him clearly. She was angry--furious with him, and he knew why. Still, he said nothing and merely looked away.

"You're such a _bastard_, Kudo!" Ai cried out hotly, shaking in her fury. "Ever since I first met you--"

"Haibara," he said firmly, interrupting her sharply. There was a pause before he lowered his hand and closed his eyes, heaving a sigh. "Haibara...you've never known Kudo Shinichi..." He pauses again before looking at her with a glare of his own. "So never call him a bastard. Call me by the name I have now because _that's_ the person you know! ...or have you changed your mind about our agreement, Miyano?"

Ai recoiled, staring at him, shocked.

The not-teenaged boy remained still for a minute before he deflated. "Sorry, Haibara," he said with an uneasy smile. "I shouldn't have said any of that. I guess I am getting a bit weirded out by that new sensei..."

The girl took a bit longer to calm down, but when she had, she frowned slightly. "No. You're right in saying it's odd that he looks so much like Kudo Shinichi."

"There was a person," Conan said with a thoughtful air, "who could disguise himself as that meitantei without a mask or makeup..." He paused before smirking, seeming amused by his small bout of deduction. "Kaitou Kid."

  


* * *

_Author's Notes:_ Yep, it's another one of those cases where this has been tucked away somewhere so I could focus on my other projects. Sadly, that failed, so I've decided to bring this out and see what you all think of it. It's a 50/50 chance that I'll continue it or to leave it here and then remove. So opinions on the idea of the story would be nice! Thanks to all who read and ja ne! 


End file.
